Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup–reminiscent of Panera Bread’s broccoli cheddar soup this pressure cooker version has chopped broccoli, shredded carrots and celery simmered in a velvety smooth cheese sauce. I believe this version is just as good or better than you could order at any restaurant! Try it for dinner this week.

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup

YUM is all I can say about this broccoli cheddar soup. The vegetables are quickly pressure cooked in the Instant Pot and then the creamy and cheesy goodness is added in to the pot to produce a soup that will knock your socks off. This Instant Pot broccoli cheddar soup is amazing served in bread bowls or served with some crusty bread…or just some crackers on top.

Some notes about the recipe:

Better than Bouillon Chicken Base*: I don’t always have a carton or can of chicken broth in my pantry but I always have Better than Bouillon in my fridge. I buy the big jars at Costco…they are so much cheaper. Then when a recipe calls for a cup of chicken broth I simply add in one cup of water and one teaspoon of the chicken base.

Broccoli: I chose to go with fresh broccoli for this recipe. You could totally go a lot heavier on the broccoli if you like to have broccoli in every bite. I just used the florets but if you like the stems you could dice them up and throw them in as well.

Carrots: I used only 2 carrots for this recipe but again, you could totally throw in a third carrots if you like to have more vegetables. I chose to cut my carrots up matchstick style which took a while but you could also just used grated carrots or diced carrots.

Sharp Cheddar: I love that sharp cheddar can bring so much more flavor to a dish than mild or medium cheddar. Don’t worry it’s not overwhelming. I used an entire 8 ounce block of cheddar. I grated my own. I don’t like to use pre-grated cheddar for soups because it has that weird powdery substance on it. What is that stuff anyway?

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Description

Reminiscent of Panera Bread’s broccoli cheddar soup this pressure cooker version has chopped broccoli, shredded carrots and celery simmered in a velvety smooth cheese sauce. I believe this version is just as good or better than you could order at any restaurant! Try it for dinner this week.

Instructions

Turn your Instant Pot to the saute function (“more”) and melt the 1 Tbsp of butter. When the butter is melted add in the diced onion. Saute for 3 minutes.

Add in the celery, carrots, broccoli and chicken broth.

Cover the Instant Pot and lock the lid in place. Make sure valve is on “sealing.” Set the manual button (or pressure cook button) to 1 minute.

While the pot heats up and reaches pressure melt your 1/4 cup of butter in a glass dish in the microwave (you can also melt in a pan on the stove). Slowly whisk in the flour until a creamy mixture is formed. Set aside. If desired (to speed up the process) you can also heat up the milk at this time. Grate your cheddar and set aside.

When the timer beeps indicating the time is up on your Instant Pot let the pot sit there for 5 minutes and then move the valve to “venting.” Remove the lid when you can.

Turn the Instant Pot back to the saute function. Whisk one cup of the broth from the soup into the butter and flour mixture. Then add that whole mixture into the pot. Stir until the soup thickens. Stir in the milk, until it heats through (this is why heating it beforehand can speed up the process). Stir in the cheese, until it melts. Stir in the salt and pepper. If you want a thicker soup you can mix 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of cold water in a small bowl and then stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot. This will produce a nice, thick soup.

Ladle into bowls and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Although I personally haven’t tried freezing this soup, I believe that it would freeze well.

Nutrition

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Comments

This was really good! I made it a while back and we enjoyed it. This time I added a little garlic while cooking the onion, then diced about 3 medium potatoes into little pieces. Just changed the cooking time to 3 minutes to accommodate the potatoes but that was more than enough really. The potatoes were a great addition and made it feel like a hearty meal soup.

I’m always iffy on broccoli cheese soup recipes but this is amazing! I grated my own cheese and used a whole head of broccoli (including stems). I made it exactly as written, but I had one small piece of velveeta cheese and I added it just to use it up. So very good! I will most certainly be putting this on my rotation. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome – this is like my 4th time using IP- I successfully have made rice, hard boiled eggs, lentil and ham soup and marinara and this broccoli cheese soup! I unsuccessfully made chicken with rice and mushroom soup 🙁 ..but oh well I am still learning 🙂

I actually had some steamed veggies from yesterday that I threw in there and used a little bit of heavy cream with water in replace of 1 cup of milk and it turned out wonderful. My kids love it! I added the cornstarch too so it was nice and thick! Thank you!

Hi Karen, your recipe is my very first to try the Instant Pot. It is really good. I chopped the broccoli too fine and will leave in larger chunks next time. I can’t believe how fast the pot sauteed the onions and the the soup was so easy to make.

Step 2: Add in the celery, carrots, broccoli and chicken broth.
This is ALL the broth.
After the soup is cooked you use the flour/butter mixture to thicken the soup. So you still a cup of the cooked soup into the flour mixture and then stir it all back into the pot.
Make sense?

I do shift work and prepare meals days in advance. I ran out of time, (Don’t we all?), I luckily had most of the ingredients on hand. On a Lark I gave it a shot. Great stuff. Will go to this again and again. I had to cheat and use buttermilk because that was all I had. Can’t wait to do it by the book.

Thank you so much for this recipe – it is delicious!!!!! I used low-fat milk and low fat cheese and it came out perfect. I used the food processor to “pulse” the brocoli for a few seconds as well as the onions and celeri – the texture is perfect!!! So far, this is our favorite soup. Thanks again!!

Thank you so much for this scrumptious recipe, Karen! Like one of the other commenters, it was my third time using my IP and I am so happy with how this soup turned out. Because I decided on a whim to make this and didn’t have enough whole milk for two cups, I did 1 C whole and 1 C 2%, so it wasn’t as thick as it would have been with whole milk. BUT! To make up for that, I just did another butter-and-flour mixture and worked it into the soup, and it thickened right up. So, so delicious, and perfect for a lazy night in!

Stumbled upon this recipe by accident. Needed something quick and easy –this fit the bill. I cut the recipe in half as it is dinner for 2. It ‘was’ DELICIOUS! Will put this in the dinner rotation. Do you have the nutritional information?

Very good! I think I will cut back on the celery next time, we tasted to much of it. I might also try it with half and half as I like a creamier soup. But this was a great starter recipe and can easily be adjusted to each one’s taste buds! Thanks for sharing!

Just made this tonight for dinner. My husband is a broccoli cheddar soup fanatic and he loved it! So easy to make! I made it with frozen broccoli and a bag of carrots that was already cut into small matchsticks. This will definitely be making it onto our fall/winter rotation!

This recipe is awesome! I’m so particular about my broccoli cheddar soup and it definitely gets my seal of approval! My son who is autistic and very picky even loved it, though to be fair, broccoli is one of his favorite foods. Thanks!

I can’t have flour or cornstarch because of the carbs. Do you think I could run the immersion blender through it to thicken it up a bit? Thank you Karen for any input you can offer. Your recipe sounds delicious. I really hope I can try it!

I always add broccoli stems (peeled) to my broccoli soup because IMO they have more flavor than the florets. If you use a lot of them an immersion blender will do decent job of thickening the soup. I cook the soup a little longer (about 5 minutes) because the stems are more woody than the florets, and I’ll toss in some potato flakes at the end if it wants a little more thickening. Just remember that the cheese will also thicken it a lot.

This is absolutely amazing! It is coming in super clutch for Lent this year. We doubled it, and it came out perfect. This recipe requires a lot more prep than a lot of recipes, but I would say it is worth it.

I made this and it was delish! I did however also add about 5 large mushrooms and instead of all broccoli I added 12 oz of frozen cauliflower. Instead of the flour I used cornstarch slurry, light cream and milk, and added a Tblsp of Dijon mustard. Ok so I changed a lot but I used this as my guide and it was fantastic!

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